Constant population growth requires a large volume of manufactured products to be purchased. At the points of sale, structures which make it possible to carry a large volume of products in reduced spaces become essential, without losing focus of the main objective which is product display. The distributors of consumable products have difficulties when setting up product displays quickly and completely in the least possible amount of time onto a display structure, while also ensuring that the display structure are sufficiently capable of supporting the consumable products to be displayed.
Manufacturers try to solve these problems by sending their products packaged in a structure which is capable of transporting and displaying the products. While this is useful for certain products, there are other products which have to be set up in situ due to the type of product or to the manufacturer's preference.
There are several prior publications of displays which are assembled in situ. One of the objectives when assembling displays in situ is that the displays be assembled easily and quickly. This is so that the user assembling the displays may mount his display stand as efficiently as possible, so as to let consumers view and/or purchase the displayed product as soon as possible.
Preferably the display structure is covered by an advertising jacket or cover, which may also be used as protective layer for the display structure. However, setting up this advertising jacket can take time, which, as previously mentioned, is limited when setting up the display structure. Additionally, if the display structure is sent packaged with the advertising jacket, it is possible that given the rigidity of the display structure, the jacket could be scratched, bent or broken, in which case, the jacket layer would be either useless or would not attract consumer's attention. Therefore, what is needed is a covering layer which is easily mountable in situ over the display structure, as well as a covering layer which is easily un-mountable in situ.
Such covers are known in the art. Specifically, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2000184946 discloses a corner cover structure for an open display structure. The corner cover is placed at an angle at which a lower trim and a handrail provide support for the pieces which are hooked and a fixture for the part of the corner cover which is hooked. The cover is pulled downwardly and holes of the fixture are aligned with threaded holes of the cover. Screws are screwed then into the threaded holes. A lateral plate and a frontal plate are then securely fastened by the fixture. At this point, the corner cover is placed on the handrail. Additionally, the recessed part of the corner cover downwardly holds the lower mounting part of the lower trim side and the lower frontal end of a windshield is fixed unto the lower trim.
Additionally, Korean publication No. 20030090228 discloses an assembly structure of a cover for a display structure which comprises at least one fixed bracket formed at a first coupling surface, which is formed by bending a portion of the first cover of the display structure perpendicular to the remaining portion of the same, and an insertion groove of the bracket. After the fixed bracket is inserted into a second coupling surface, which is formed by twice bending the portion of a second case cover so as to be horizontally coupled to the first coupling surface, the bracket insertion grooves allow the second coupling surface to be inserted into the fixed bracket in a sliding manner, thereby becoming fastened to the first coupling surface.
Finally, US publication No. 2005/0109723 discloses a rack jacket comprising a support member portion for covering an external surface of at least one of a plurality of support members. The rack jacket also includes a cross brace portion, for covering an external surface of at least one cross brace set between at least two of the vertical support members. The rack jacket is sized and shaped to conform to an outer surface of the rack. This publication fails to show several features necessary for the proper covering of the display structure by the jacket. Specifically, the jacket in said publication fails to disclose panels for covering tray bases, and fails to disclose an appropriate manner of securing the jacket around the tray bases. Furthermore, the jacket in said publication fails to disclose a manner in which the jacket may be folded to occupy less space when stored or being transported. Since the prior art document shows a rigid display structure, specifically a material similar to wood and steel as seen in the figures, there is no need to re-enforce the display structure. However, the present invention allows re-enforcing the display structure with the flaps provided in the present application, hence providing a similar support than the prior art, with lighter materials.
Therefore, a protecting jacket for display structures is required, especially for foldable or semi-foldable display structures. The protecting jacket should have a hardness which is nonetheless high, and which is also easy to mount and un-mount. The materials for display structures are, for example, plastics such as polystyrenes, PVC, high density polyethylenes, polypropylenes, PET, etc., wood, metals which have a propensity to provide some flexibility, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, etc. On the other hand, the same characteristics are required for the layer or cover of the display structures, that is, flexibility or semi-flexibility, with a high degree of hardness, with the above-mentioned materials being preferred.
Additionally, a jacket or cover which covers all the outer parts of the display structure is required, so that the display structure is dressed. In this way, and that said dressing is able to attract consumer's attention, whether by means of advertising or with striking colors.